Buoyed by the affirmation that Jesus Christ stands at the head of the church and challenged to live more faith-filled and charitable lives, leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints closed their 172nd Annual General Conference Sunday afternoon, and members from far and near began returning home.
President Gordon B. Hinckley closed the conference with a solid testimony that the church "is the work of God, presided over and directed by Jesus Christ, whose holy name it bears."
Claims by critics who say Latter-day Saints do not believe in the "traditional Christ" have "some substance," said President Hinckley, because the church's knowledge of the Savior is not based "on ancient traditions," some of them created by men. "Our faith, our knowledge, comes of the witness of a prophet in this dispensation
who saw before him the great God of the universe and his beloved Son, the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ."
Joseph Smith's vision of the Father and Son provided "certain and unequivocating" knowledge that is the basis of LDS faith, he said.
President Hinckley, while not referring directly to the current wars in the Middle East, spoke of "a world of uncertainty. We do not know what the coming days will bring." But, "regardless of what the future holds, there stands the Redeemer of the world, the son of God, certain and sure as the anchor of our immortal lives. He is the rock of our salvation, our strength, our comfort, the very focus of our faith."
Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve also spoke on the search for peace. "We sometimes fail to understand that the everlasting peace Jesus promises is an inner peace, born in faith, anchored by testimony, nurtured with love and expressed through continual obedience and repentance. It is a peace of spirit that echoes through the heart and the soul. If one truly knows and experiences this inner peace, there is no fear from worldly disharmony and discord."
Several of Sunday's speakers encouraged greater personal commitment to the qualities that characterize true Christian living. In a sermon on charity, Elder Gene R. Cook of the Quorums of the Seventy pointed to charity — the pure love of Christ — as the quality from which "all divine attributes seem to flow." Church members should first recognize that love from the Savior, receive it in humility and then convey it to others, he said.
Drawing from the parable of the prodigal son, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve, in the Sunday morning session, looked more deeply into the story to find the fault in "the other prodigal" — the older brother who resented the welcome and forgiveness extended to the son who had squandered his share of the family fortune and lived a riotous life. The judgmental older brother "has, as yet, been unable to break out of the prison of himself," he said.
Prodded by Satan, too many people feel themselves diminished if someone else has good fortune, Elder Holland said. Constant comparisons make some feel that they "have been weighed in the balance and found wanting" without true justification for that feeling. "None of us is less treasured or cherished of God than another. . . . He cheers on every runner, calling out that the race is against sin, not against each other. . . . There is a perfectly tailored robe of righteousness ready and waiting for everyone" who so qualifies, he said.
President James E. Faust, second counselor in the First Presidency, bore witness of the power of prayer as "one of the great privileges and blessings of our lives." Since Adam, he said, "prayer has filled a very important human need. Each of us has problems that we cannot solve and weaknesses that we cannot conquer without reaching out through prayer to a higher source of strength. That source is the God of heaven to whom we pray in the name of Jesus Christ."
Sister Bonnie D. Parkin, new general president of the Relief Society, joined Elders Gerald N. Lund and William R. Walker, new members of the Quorums of the Seventy, in sharing their testimonies Sunday afternoon (see story on A4).
Throughout the conference, thousands of church members, both inside the Conference Center and throughout the church grounds surrounding the center, gathered in pleasant weather to share the common bond of faith. With every spring daffodil, daisy and ranunculus beckoning "look at me," they found the church grounds between sessions conducive to picnicking, visiting or reading.
Susie Clayton was hard to miss in the crowd milling in the area between the Tabernacle and the Temple between Sunday sessions. Her electric blue gown identified her as a member of the Tabernacle Choir hurrying to be seated for the afternoon session. "I'm the sixth generation of my family, dating from 1862, to sing in the choir," she said. Her daughter, Sarah, will become the seventh generation and the 31st individual in the family to carry on the tradition. She is now in training for the prestigious choir, the mother said.
"There is nothing like being here at this time of year and being in the presence of the anointed ones," said Wakolo Taniela, president of the Nausori Fiji Stake, a convert of less than 10 years. "When I see the prophet and his apostles together, it is the same feeling I had the first time I was in the temple. It is confirming." He and another Fijian, Saimoni Naivalu, now a student at Brigham Young University, spent the midday break visiting with a former missionary to their island nation.
For Clayton Hoffman, Bountiful, and his four children, Spencer, Steven, Katelyn and Bradley, the spring day was time for a picnic, along with their friend, Rosann Doney. "You couldn't ask for anything better," said the dad, spreading the goodies among his brood.
The sense of camaraderie and devotion among Latter-day Saints, who gather downtown and at family gatherings for the church's semi-annual conferences, is "a wonderful feast at the table of the Lord," President Hinckley said in his closing remarks.
"Each of us should be a little better for this rich experience. Otherwise, our gathering has been largely in vain."
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